{"id":4247,"date":"2024-08-25T21:42:06","date_gmt":"2024-08-25T20:42:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/?p=4247"},"modified":"2024-08-25T21:42:06","modified_gmt":"2024-08-25T20:42:06","slug":"alex-pereira-fires-back-at-ankalaevs-accusations-im-not-avoiding-anyone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/alex-pereira-fires-back-at-ankalaevs-accusations-im-not-avoiding-anyone\/","title":{"rendered":"Alex Pereira Fires Back at Ankalaev&#8217;s Accusations: &#8220;I\u2019m Not Avoiding Anyone&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">In the heated arena of UFC, Light Heavyweight Champion Alex Pereira found himself responding to accusations from Magomed Ankalaev, who claimed that Pereira was avoiding a fight with him. These allegations surfaced after Pereira successfully defended his title at UFC 303 against Jiri Prochazka, leading to speculation about who his next opponent would be.<\/span><\/p>\n<h4 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>Is Pereira Avoiding a Fight with Ankalaev?<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Magomed Ankalaev, who remains unbeaten in his last 11 fights, was widely expected to be Pereira\u2019s next challenger. The 32-year-old Dagestani had captured attention with his knockout victory over Johnny Walker at UFC Vegas 84, fueling expectations that a clash with Pereira was inevitable.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">However, fans were surprised when it was announced that Pereira would defend his title against Khalil Rountree Jr. at UFC 307, not Ankalaev. This decision sparked controversy, with some questioning whether the UFC was protecting its champion from a tough fight against a formidable grappler like Ankalaev.<\/span><\/p>\n<h4 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>Pereira Clarifies His Position: &#8220;I\u2019m Not Afraid of Anyone&#8221;<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">In a strong response via his YouTube channel, Alex Pereira addressed these allegations. &#8220;I was very clear with the organization. Let me remind you of something: You, Ankalaev, didn\u2019t want to fight me. I don\u2019t know why, whether it was the location or because you didn\u2019t want to. But I\u2019m not avoiding anyone,&#8221; Pereira stated.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\"  id=\"_ytid_25322\"  width=\"696\" height=\"391\"  data-origwidth=\"696\" data-origheight=\"391\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/tPnl0-u9cxg?enablejsapi=1&#038;autoplay=0&#038;cc_load_policy=0&#038;cc_lang_pref=&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;loop=0&#038;modestbranding=0&#038;rel=1&#038;fs=1&#038;playsinline=0&#038;autohide=2&#038;theme=dark&#038;color=red&#038;controls=1&#038;\" class=\"__youtube_prefs__  epyt-is-override  no-lazyload\" title=\"YouTube player\"  allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen data-no-lazy=\"1\" data-skipgform_ajax_framebjll=\"\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">He continued, &#8220;I think this was the opportunity he had, but he didn\u2019t take it. I don\u2019t know his reasons, but what I can say is that I\u2019m not afraid of anyone. Everyone knows my story and who I\u2019ve faced, not just in MMA but also in kickboxing.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<h4 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>Choosing Rountree Jr.: A Controversial Decision<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Pereira didn\u2019t hide his surprise when the UFC offered him a fight with Khalil Rountree Jr. instead of Ankalaev. &#8220;I was a little surprised when they offered me Khalil Rountree Jr. I honestly thought it would be Ankalaev. But it seems the organization believes Rountree is the right man for this fight.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">While many expect Pereira to dominate Rountree Jr. at UFC 307, the big question remains: Will this fight affect Pereira\u2019s trajectory as a champion? Was choosing Rountree a wise decision by the UFC? Or will &#8220;The War Horse&#8221; pose a real threat to the Light Heavyweight Champion?<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The controversy isn\u2019t over, and the upcoming showdown between Pereira and Rountree Jr. raises new questions about the future of the Light Heavyweight division in the UFC. What lies ahead for Pereira? Will he prove that choosing Rountree was not an escape from Ankalaev? These questions will soon be answered in the octagon.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In the heated arena of UFC, Light Heavyweight Champion Alex Pereira found himself responding to accusations from Magomed Ankalaev, who claimed that Pereira was avoiding a fight with him. These allegations surfaced after Pereira successfully defended his title at UFC 303 against Jiri Prochazka, leading to speculation about who his next opponent would be. Is [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4248,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45,86,91],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-4247","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mma","8":"category-mma-video","9":"category-ufc"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4247"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4247"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4247\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4249,"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4247\/revisions\/4249"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4248"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4247"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4247"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4247"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}